What the Prophet (peace be upon him) promised to the world:The feeling of security with Allah’s plan

What the Prophet (peace be upon him) promised to the world:

The feeling of security with Allah’s plan

 Allah, the most exalted, stated in his book:

“Then, did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people.” (Qur’an: Al-A’raf: 99)

And he says:

“He said; ‘and who despairs of the mercy of his lord except for those astray” (Qur’an: Al-Hijr: 56)

The scripture given to the Prophet (peace be upon him) – the Quran, describes the condition of those who denied the divinely guided messengers (peace be upon them). One may surmise from the very first verse mentioned that the reason why they haughtily denied their messengers (peace be upon them) was because they felt security in being gradually drawn into eternal damnation. As a result, they went too far into their disobedience to him and did not expect any punishment from him.

In the second verse, the Qur’an relates the story of one of his great Prophets (peace be upon them), that is, Abraham (peace be upon him). When the angels brought him glad tidings that his wife would give birth to the Prophet Isaac (peace be upon him), out of amazement, Abraham (peace be upon him) exclaimed that it would be impossible for him to have a child due to his advanced age, the angels upon hearing his words proclaimed: “…so do not be of the depairing” (Qur’an: Al-Hijr: 55). Abraham replied that he was not of the desperate, and that he was only astonished by glad tidings which the angels gave news to him of.

We may draw the following lessons from the two verses mentioned:

·        The first verse implies and admonition against feeling secure from the plan of Allah and even deems it a major sin, one which the true Muslim would not be guilt of practicing.

·        The second verse implies an admonition against despairing of the mercy of Allah (and even deems it a major sin).

·        The two verses point out that a believer is bound to equally combine fear and hope in worshipping Allah. Thus, one should not depend only on hope so as not to feel secure from the plan of Allah, nor should he only fear Allah till he despairs of his mercy.

·        Fear and hope are two devotional acts of the heart which a believer must purely dedicate to Allah.